Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Benefits of the Television Adaptation

David C Edwards - Who would like the Destroyer as a Netflix or HBO R rated series?!?! I have been thinking about this for over 1/2 of my life. Adapt the best books in the series that have the most iconic villains, and tell the core story of Remo and Chiun's journey. Each season would be shot as a period piece (The 70's, 80's, 90's, etc. until present.). The styles, technologies, administrations, and other characters age, but Remo and Chiun do not!! Unfortuneately, Fred Ward would not get into the series for quite some time.Scott Driscoll - YesStephen Wilkinson - I think it being on HBO would be a better treatment, the story deserves a "You will wait till next week for the next installment dammit!" and no binge watching! :)

It can be as bloody as Game of Thrones, and funny as Curb Your Enthusiasm :DMark Kalita - Yes, please!!!

John Simcoe - It would be nice, but neither Netflix or HBO would bother. The property has no buzz right now. Maybe after a successful movie or a hot-selling book series.Stephen Wilkinson - ^ Buzzkill.

This guy :DBen Whiting - I don't think John Simcoe is being a buzzkill, just realistic. GOT sold pretty well before it was concerted into a show. And as for bestselling book series...come on guys, vote with your wallets!Stephen Wilkinson - 'being realistic' IS a buzzkill, that's why girls got makeup and guys got viagra! :DMuhammad Rasheed - ^Wow. lolEric Watters - Pretty fucking please with sugar on top.. make the fucking show!

David C Edwards - I actually think the climate is right for this series. There is a huge demand for content! Political satire! Sex and violence! Humor! Tried and true villains that have already been ripped off by Hollywood... Done properly.

How could it NOT sell??!!Stephen Wilkinson - it would probably have to wait a bit since the Sex and Violence bit is provided by the General Election going on currently.Muhammad Rasheed - Any novel would be better served as a tv series rather than a film anyway, especially a long-running series of novels.

Who is this guy you are casting for Remo, David? He's actually looking great for the role, favorably competing with my #1 choice in Caviezel.David C Edwards - It is (Jon Bernthal) "Shane" from The Walking Dead, and "the Punisher" from Daredevil season 2!

MY question... WHO would you cast as Chiun?!?!

Muhammad Rasheed - I would cast a 40 something, charismatic with good English, Korean actor/athlete, who has a popular following in his home country but unknown in USA, to play both Chiun and Nuihc.David C Edwards - I am not opposed to special make-up effects. Joel Grey was an ugly round eye. Yet, managed to capture the essence of Master Chiun.

David C Edwards - An Asian non-Korean in old age make-up COULD work.

Muhammad Rasheed - lol It would technically work considering the "acting" part, but also considering that the "yellow-face" concept is inherently offensive, I see no real reason why we would even want to go that route in a more enlightened age.

The old "American's aren't ready for an Asian leading man" argument wasn't true then or now.

David C Edwards - Whoever plays the role is doing it in old age make-up.

Muhammad Rasheed - The "young man in old makeup" isn't the conflict. It's the "one ethnic group in place of another" part that is problematic.David C Edwards - I get that.

...still.

Joel Grey.Muhammad Rasheed - lol Grey worked for his time, but now we should move towards better models. As the Master of Sinanju himself would point out, authenticity is infinitely better than the most celebrated imitation.David C Edwards - Chuin is in his 70's, or something, at the BEGINNING of the dang story.Muhammad Rasheed - Yes, and we'd NEED that old man makeup FX thing to happen, especially if the series is popular and lasts for years. Not that the younger actor couldn't pass away early, too, but still...David C Edwards - YES! The decades change around them. Smith ages. Everyone else ages or dies. Remo and Chiun stay the same.

Muhammad Rasheed - I would've liked them to stay the same (demonstrating the youth maintenance quality of Sinanju's power), but the series wasn't written that way. They've always described Chiun as old looking.

David C Edwards - ...and then season six, or something, Sunny Joe.

David C Edwards - Well... "Old", but unchanging.

David C Edwards - 70-100+... He is the MoS

Muhammad Rasheed - lol "Old" means he has been changing. At least in his aesthetic.

Muhammad Rasheed - The "unchanging" part is in what he can DO.

David C Edwards - Remo is like 25+ when he discovers Sinanju. He looks 30-40 perpetually until... I would think like 65.

Muhammad Rasheed - Nah, considering Chiun looked like a really old man at 75-80, Remo would apparently age like normal.

David C Edwards - Sunny Joe = season 5

Muhammad Rasheed - Should Sunny Joe be introduced so early? I would want a 'fake out' story arc where Remo THINKS he found his dad first to really throw him and the audience off the trail that his dad being around would even be a possibility. And then intro Sunny Joe a few seasons later (but only to Chiun at first like in the books).Muhammad Rasheed - Season 10 in his first intro, with the Nishitsu Corp.

Muhammad Rasheed - Just enough to make the viewers go: O_OMuhammad Rasheed - "WHAAAAAAAAA???????????"David C Edwards - Well... I would look at this as a period piece. Season one. Origin. Late 60's - 70's.David C Edwards - Then a decade a season using the BEST stories and central storyline.

David C Edwards - Political commentary. Sex. Violence. Social commentary.Muhammad Rasheed - Yes, I would LOVE it to be a period piece.Muhammad Rasheed - A decade per season????

Muhammad Rasheed - No.

Muhammad Rasheed - The '70s could be 5 seasons by themselves...

David C Edwards You cannot do EVERY book.

Muhammad Rasheed - Yeah, but there's more TOP STORIES in that one decade than just one season. Come on.David C Edwards - Take the BEST from every decade. Maybe an original story or Marvel Magazine adaptation.

Muhammad Rasheed - Each "good" novel would represent a seven episode story arc, at least...

David C Edwards - Take the best bits, and chop off the rest.

Muhammad Rasheed - David, we don't have to follow anybody's formula template. We can make our own.

David C Edwards - One novel, one episode.

Muhammad Rasheed - ^Kiss of death.

Muhammad Rasheed - That would destroy the benefit of making it a tv series in the first place, dude.

David C Edwards - I have "Return Engagement" down to a single episode as a screenwriting exercise.

David C Edwards - It needs to be cinematic pulp fiction.

David C Edwards - Like a Masterpiece Theatre, but with a shelf of Destroyers.

David C Edwards - I like a 60 - 90 minute episode.

Muhammad Rasheed - The benefit tv has over film, is that the tv series gives us time to flesh out who these people are, and enables the viewer to really get to know them and care. If we strip every novel down and rush through the tales -- the way the movies do -- you will sabotage the emotional attachment that you want to cultivate. Thus when Sunny Joe is introduced, for example, nobody will really care.

Muhammad Rasheed - I want them to CRY.

Muhammad Rasheed - "WHAAAT??? But I thought...? "d-daddy...?"

Muhammad Rasheed - Let's build our own template/model/formula that works for US, and let OTHERS do the copying.

The Destroyer is a pioneering, ground-breaking work, that others have been ripping off for decades. I see no reason why that trend should stop.

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About Me

M. Rasheed is an independent Black American scholar, PMP®, and graphic novel serialist. He is the author of two, 10-titled, graphic novel series, TALES OF SINANJU: THE DESTROYER, and the award-winning MONSTERS 101. M. Rasheed is the founder of the #BlackActionAgenda initiative.